Rex Burkhead bounced back after an earlier fumble with a tough one yard touchdown run with 5:11 left in the game Saturday evening, and the defense held Buffalo out of the end zone deep in their territory with 1:12 remaining as the New England Patriots clinched their 11th consecutive AFC East crown with a 24-17 win over the Bills at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Buffalo (10-5) took two leads in the game with the first being after a New England turnover on the games first possession. After ripping off an 18 yard run and catch from Tom Brady, Burkhead was stripped of the ball by Jordan Poyer at the Bills 47, and Micah Hyde returned it 31 yards to the Patriots 31 yard line. That would lead to a 35 yard field goal by Stephen Hauschka to make it 3-0. New England responded going 70 yards on 11 plays in 7:26. Brady hit tight end Matt LaCosse for an eight yard score. After a Patriots 91 yard drive in the second quarter that included a 17 yard pass to Julian Edelman and an 18 yard reverse run by receiver N’Keal Harry, Nick Folk settled for a 36 yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-3 with 5:07 to go before halftime. After three punts between the two teams, New England (12-3) couldn’t convert on a fourth down with short yardage to go situation at the Buffalo 41 giving the ball back to the Bills in good field position. A 16 yard run by quarterback Josh Allen set Buffalo up at the NE 43. Two plays later Allen hit Dawson Knox for what looked like could be a 34 yard TD pass. However the play was reviewed and showed Knox’ knee down at the 1 yard line. After an incompletion, Allen went playaction and hit left tackle Dion Dawkins who had reported as an eligible receiver for the 1 yard TD pass to tie the game with six seconds left as the teams went into the break 10-10.
The hosts took the lead back on their first possession of the second half helped by a 31 yard Brady to Burkhead pass completion. Folk hit his second field goal on the night this time from 51 yards to make it 13-10 Patriots. Edelman went to the locker room with a possible injury after the drive. It only took the Bills five plays and 2:29 to take their final lead, when on a second down and 13 from their own 47 Allen went playaction again and avoided the rush by Lawrence Guy just long enough and went deep to John Brown, who beat New Englands Devin McCourty for a 53 yard score to make it 17-13 Buffalo. After again the teams exchanged punts, the Patriots got on the scoreboard again to cut into the lead on a drive that started late in the third and ended early in the fourth. A 25 yard run by Sony Michel, a 15 yard pass to Jakobi Meyers, and another big catch of 23 yards by Burkhead led to another kick from Folk of 20 yards to make it a one point game with 10:48 left. After the defense did their job and forced a three and out, New England started a drive that would lead them to the division title. Seven plays and 58 yards that totaled 3:55 and included a 30 yard pass to Edelman who had emerged from the locker room led to the Burkhead game winner, who looked to be stopped near the goal line but bounced off a would be tackler and scored from 1 yard out. Brady converted the two point conversion with a pass to Edelman. Buffalo wasn’t done though. The visitors used 10 plays to get down to the Patriots 8 yard line with just over a minute left on the clock. The key play was a 25 yard pass connection from Allen to wide receiver Cole Beasley. After two incompletions by Allen on first and second down, and a combination seven yard sack on third and goal by Don’ta Hightower and Adam Butler pushed it back to the 15 for one final opportunity. Allen was forced back to the 31 with pressure by Jamie Collins on the final play, and threw off his back foot to the endzone intended for Beasley but it was knocked down by JC Jackson. New England was able to kneel down in victory formation to run out the clock.
Brady was very efficient going 26-33 passing for 271 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions. The 20 year veteran moved into a second place tie on the all-time NFL touchdown passes list with Peyton Manning (539), now behind the overall leader Drew Brees (541). Michel rushed 21 times for 96 yards, as the Patriots showed great balance with the passing and running game ending up with 143 yards on the ground on 35 carries. The offense racked up 416 total yards. Burkhead came up big in the receiving game with four catches for 77 yards. Edelman also caught five for 72 yards. With his first catch of the night, Edelman also passed Wes Welker for the most receptions in Patriots history with 673. Jackson, McCourty, Guy, and Collins all had six tackles a piece. Guy also added a sack. Hightower had five tackles and 1.5 sacks. Allen led the Buffalo offense going 13-26 passing for 208 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He added seven runs for 43 yards accounting for a total of 251 yards of the 300 yards by the offense. Beasley had seven catches for 108 yards. Matt Milano had 12 tackles and Poyer had 11 to lead the Bills defense.
New England can now clinch the #2 AFC seed, a first round bye, and a home playoff game with either a win over the Miami Dolphins, or a Kansas City loss to either Chicago on Sunday or the LA Chargers next Sunday. The Patriots and Dolphins kick off from Gillette next Sunday at 1 p.m.
New England running back Rex Burkhead had a big game Saturday evening scoring the game winning touchdown with five minutes left and adding 77 yards receiving, to help the Patriots win another division title 24-17 over the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium
